AFRICA

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP |  Crowds of children bustle around chessboards in Nigeria’s Lagos, figuring out their next moves as part of a project aimed at bringing hope in one of the city’s impoverished slums. Dozens of matches are played simultaneously as participants as young as three master a game often …

Marakabei, Lesotho | AFP | Vast white greenhouses sit high up on the slopes of Lesotho’s Marakabei town, hidden from view. It’s not fruit or vegetables, however, growing under the 18 plastic covers, but thousands of cannabis plants. The cannabis is grown legally by the Lesotho-based company Medigrow and is regulated …

Beira, Mozambique | AFP |  Maria da Paz prays silently on a pew near the altar of Beira cathedral. Tonight, as on many other nights, she wants to give thanks for simply being alive. In March, Cyclone Idai roared across Mozambique’s second city, bringing floods that killed more than 600 people …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Five people have been killed in a surge of xenophobic violence in South Africa, police said on Tuesday, as President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed to clamp down and the African Union, Nigeria and Zambia condemned the attacks. Hordes of people — some armed with axes and …

South Africa vows crackdown on xenophobic attacks after five die Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  Zambia has cancelled an international friendly football match which was slated for Lusaka next weekend against South Africa after recent xenophobic attacks. “This is because of the security concerns, you never know what can happen,” Football …

Macomia, Mozambique | AFP | Aldeia da Paz was once a sleepy place. Farmers went about their daily lives, tending to meagre crops along the road linking Mozambique to its northern border with Tanzania. Everything changed after nightfall on August 1st. “They arrived around seven o’clock in the evening,” said Lucas …

Tunis, Tunisia | AFP | Campaigning for Tunisia’s presidential election opened Monday with 26 candidates vying to replace late leader Beji Caid Essebsi in a vote seen as vital to defending democratic gains in the cradle of the Arab Spring. Seven million Tunisians are expected to head to the ballot box …

  Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  South African police on Monday arrested dozens of people following widespread looting and protests in the transport industry linked to a wave of anti-foreigner sentiment. At least 70 people have been arrested since hundreds of people marched through Johannesburg’s Central Business District (CBD) …

  Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis flies out on Wednesday for a week-long tour visiting three Indian Ocean African countries hard hit by poverty, conflict and natural disaster. The pope will visit Mozambique and Madagascar, as well as Mauritius, countries visited by pope John Paul II …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Earlier this year, hairdresser Mazen Kamal was stopped by paramilitary forces on a street in Khartoum for having long hair and was shaved on the spot. Now the barbershop he works in is seeing an influx of young men coming for modern hairstyles that would have …